Volume III – Malte Zenses & Christina Lehnert
June 2021
For Volume III, Malte Zenses asked his friends Annika Henderson, Ricardo Domeneck, Joanna MacLean and Peter Brötzmann three questions:
Imagine one of these scenarios: a resource shortage, this pandemic, or global warming bring civilization to its knees: What does that look like to you? What will be important to you? And how would you feel as a human and as a survivor?
The answers of their sometimes short, poetic and narrative text contributions are basically human, ranging from F**k it, to reflections on childhood, human greed, and spinning out apocalyptic scenarios.
Furthermore, artist Albert Oehlen asked Malte Zenses questions about the processes of painting and how to begin painting – Malte begins with a Lobetaler-yogurt cup.
Apocalypse and routine, situation comedy and existential crisis – Malte Zenses' thinking and works revolve around these very real and very futuristic, very general and very individual themes in equal measure.
When Malte and I met in his studio, we talked about all of these things, but mostly his drawings spoke which we looked at for a long time and to which a large part of Volume III is dedicated.
It is important and perhaps necessary to ask these questions and make these images now to ignite a moment of humanity and humor.
Christina Lehnert